Technology is an entrepreneur’s best friend. Today’s gadgets make it easier to stay in touch and manage your business than ever before. As e-commerce reinterprets the brick-and-mortar business as a virtual storefront, Smart phones like iPhone and Blackberry reinterpret the office as a mobile communication center. Make your smart phone a virtual office, and run your business from wherever you are.
Your Smart Phone
Think of how much more business you could get done with a personal assistant. Smart Phones can do even more. Small business owners rely on their iPhone to:
• Stay in touch with customers, anytime and anywhere using business networking tools
• Connect and collaborate with business partners. Smart Phones let you find, communicate, and share data with business partners and service providers.
• Keep an appointment calendar. Automated alerts make sure you’re on time for appointments with potential customers and sales leads. Some smart phones offer more robust apps for prioritizing and managing your tasks and to-do lists.
• Manage customer contacts. Your handheld rolodex keeps client and business colleague contact information at hand at all times.
• Manage your money online. Access Web-based interfaces to pay your bills or transfer funds among accounts. Some iPhone apps also offer expense-tracking applications to “track money in real time”: record business purchases and update financial reports instantly. This is an especially useful feature if multiple users are drawing funds from the same account.
• Manage PPC campaigns. Pay-per-click advertising campaigns call for constant oversight. Make instant adjustments to your PPC campaign via your iPhone.
• Track time spent on different projects. If you bill by the hour, this feature helps you track the time you spend on each client’s project, and create invoices and reports.
With these features right at hand, it’s easier than ever to build a profitable business with little overhead and lots of flexibility.
iPhone-Friendly Business Plans
For a business you can manage from the palm of your hand, consider these ideas:
1. Wedding Planner. Staying in touch is ninety percent of any event planner’s job. Wedding planners coordinate an army of service providers: caterers, invitation and program printers, graphic design companies, florists, entertainers, venues, and so on. An iPhone helps wedding planners act as a liaison between these players and the client.
2. Massage Therapist. Your massage therapy skills and your iPhone adds up to a business as a massage therapist. Rely on your iPhone for managing appointments and marketing your business online.
Clients can reach you anytime to set up an appointment. An automated calendar makes sure you’re in the right place at the right time.
You can reach clients by managing your online marketing services from your palm. Work with Website design and SEO services to set up a Web site for your massage business. PPC management can help get the word out to local clients searching on terms such as “Portland Oregon Shiatsu” or “Hot Stone Massage Honolulu.” Adjust your campaign via your iPhone’s wireless access.
3. Electronic Components Broker. As an independent sales broker of used computer and electronics parts, you’re a liaison between buyer and seller. You need to be in touch to locate buyers and sellers and negotiate a deal between the two parties. iPhone-Based Business Idea: Take your electronics brokerage business an extra mile by establishing a virtual marketplace. Once you set up the infrastructure for trades, this business can easily be managed via your iPhone. A Web design service can help you build a robust marketplace where sellers and buyers can connect and trade components. Armed with point-of-sale (POS) and credit card processing capability, your online marketplace offers a forum for your clients to negotiate prices and complete transactions directly.
4. Personal Financial Advisor. The financial markets won’t pause and wait for you to reach the office and log in. To keep your eye on your client’s investments, rely on your smart phone. Today’s smart phones offer more than a continuous ticker-tape report with real-time data from Wall Street. Customized reporting on investments lets you manage multiple clients’ portfolios on the go. The ability to stay connected helps you:
Respond to opportunities instantly, reaching out to investors and completing the transaction on the go.
Respond to clients instantly, providing them with real-time account information or making adjustments to their portfolio.
Your iPhone also lets you take care of administrative functions on the go, such as recording billable hours per client.
Your iPhone may prove to be your most valuable business partner. In today’s virtual world, the three pillars of a successful business are “communication, communication, communication.” Stay connected with clients, with business leads, and with information, and you’ve got a winning foundation for any business plan.
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